Hundreds of gang members, mostly teenagers, fleeing police in two Nigerian states under a coronavirus lockdown hoaxed residents into believing that coordinated armed robbery attacks were underway.

Police say the gangsters achieved their intention of creating panic.

Residents set up makeshift checkpoints with burning tyres in border communities between Lagos and Ogun states after forming vigilante groups to protect themselves from the imaginary armed robbers.

For days, groups of anxious residents - young and old, and mostly male - kept night vigils on their streets, armed with machetes, bottles and other household items.

They were braced for an attack that never came.

There were rumours that a group of up to 200 armed robbers were on the rampage.

But the police have told the BBC that it was a widespread hoax by gangsters to create panic before attacking residents and that people had unwittingly assisted them by posting messages on social media.

However, the police insist that no-one was actually attacked.

Image copyrightOtherImage caption
Police say messages like this were used to frighten the public

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday announced a two-week extension of a lockdown in three states, including the capital Abuja, to curtail the spread of coronavirus, but made no mention of the security situation in states where residents are concerned that the economic hardship caused by the lockdown has led to an escalation in crime.

How did the rumours start?

Pictures and videos of residents bracing for attacks started surfacing last Thursday with the hashtags #OgunUnrest and #LagosUnrest trending for days on Twitter.

But there was no proof of armed robbery attacks in the neighbourhoods, according to the police.

The first wave of reports said there were attacks around the Agbado, Sango and Ijoko areas of Ogun state that borders Lagos.

On social media some residents claimed they had heard gunshots and others said they had seen people breaking into homes and in some cases maiming occupants.

This user said she was not able to sleep as her "hood was being robbed."